Maricopa County plans as recall deadline looms

The deadline
to turn in the signatures needed to recall Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio
is still a few hours away. But the Board of Elections already has a plan in
place in case the recall goes ahead, and it would require hundreds of man
hours.

Recall
supporters need to bring more than 335,000 signatures to the Maricopa County
Board of Elections by 5 p.m. today. If they do not, the recall effort ends. If they
do, county employees will have some long days ahead.

Elections Director Karen
Osborne said all 52 permanent elections staff members will work from 7 a.m. to
10 p.m. every day until each signature has been counted by hand.

“Most of the
folks do get overtime, and they’re excited about that, but there are a lot of
us that are salaried,” Osborne said, “and we do the job regardless no matter whether
it takes eight hours or 14.”

Osborne said
the county has 10 days to see if the needed number has been reached. If it has,
100 people have already been hired to verify that each signature is valid. Only
after all these steps will a recall election be triggered.

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